Fireworks
by kitsunelover
Summary: Such fireworks as we make, we two!Because you hate me and I hate you. Alucard and Integral face off throughout the years, and their clashes are beautiful to see.


_Fireworks_

Disclaimer: Hellsing is property of Kouta Hirano; I don't profit from fanfiction.

A/N: I lost interest in Hellsing (and fandom in general) a while back, and that interest has only recently been revived. I was looking through my files and found this old fic back from the days of the height of my interest in the Hellsing fandom. I'm rather fond of it, so I polished it up to post here.

--

_Such fireworks as we make, we two!  
Because you hate me and I hate you._

-"Fireworks," Amy Lowell

Something in the atmosphere changed when Integral turned fifteen. The air was richer, fuller somehow. When Alucard realized the cause, his pupils dilated with lust. His virginal master was stepping into adulthood. He sought her out.

"My senses tell me you are no longer a child."

"I haven't been a child for years," she responded with some resentment, reflecting that she had been marked out since birth.

He was oblivious. Underestimation of his young master and desire (sexual or otherwise) clouded his judgment and made him reckless. He had unconsciously begun to weave a vampiric net of entrancement for her the instant he had entered the room, and now he laid a hand on her hip.

"Let me assist your… metamorphosis. You can transcend womanhood and become more." My bride. My master.

Integra drew back, disgusted rather than dismayed, and slapped him hard across the face. Blood welled up at the corner of his mouth where her nails had caught; his glasses were askew.

"That was completely inappropriate. Get out of here now."

--

"Seras will go with you to Berlin." Millenium's leaders had been crushed, but a small remainder of the organization had fled back to Germany. Alucard was leaving to quash them.

"No. The police girl will stay with you. You cannot be alone."

"I can take care of myself."

"You are very capable, Master, but you are human. You need the police girl." He turned to leave.

Seras, who had been watching their exchange with wide eyes, teetered, unsure whether to follow.

"Go!" Integra ordered.

"Stay," said Alucard, without turning back.

Seras was panicking. Who to obey, her master or her master's master?

"Serve Sir Hellsing in my stead, Seras Victoria."

In the end, Seras walked to Integra's side and stayed there, with her head lowered, unable to meet Integra's livid expression.

--

Seras observed that when Alucard returned, he and Integra greeted each other with something like affection and relief. So it was a surprise when she walked into the dining room one afternoon, and saw Integra squaring off against Alucard.

His Jackal rested on her temple, and her sword was braced against his neck. They looked poised for an elegant, lethal dance. Integra was angry; Alucard was laughing.

Seras was about to intervene when Integra dropped her sword and sneered, "This is childish. You're not worth it."

Alucard was too stunned to immediately drop his gun; his expression changed and he gazed pensively at her. Integra walked off, and Seras could not suppress a smile.

--

Seras could hear many things through the walls of the mansion with her heightened senses. One night, as she lay in her coffin, she heard Integra yelling at Alucard, several floors up, the infuriation plain in her voice.

At last, she ceased her tirade and said in a low voice, "I am your _master_."

Alucard replied coolly, "And I am not mindless. The idea is mad. Let it go."

The next morning, Seras saw Alucard. He was impeccably dressed as usual, but there was a glaring red bite mark on his jaw, which he either could not or would not heal with his regenerative powers.

"Good morning, Master," she said uncertainly. He barely acknowledged her. Then Integra breezed in, and gave Seras an uncharacteristically mysterious smile. Alucard ignored Integra as well, and she laughed. Seras blinked in confusion.

--

Years later, Alucard placed Integra's body on a funeral pyre and watched the flames consume her.

"We were beautiful when we clashed, you and I."

He bowed his head with respect, and the curling column of smoke carried Integral Hellsing's ashes upwards towards heaven.


End file.
